Nicole Kidman is now such a fixture in Hollywood – an Oscar-winning actor who is constantly on screens big and small, from her recent performance as a wrestler-turned-lawyer in Margo’s Got Money Troubles, to the froth of Babygirl, not to mention the forthcoming Practical Magic sequel and long-awaited return of Big Little Lies – that it’s difficult to remember a time when she wasn’t.
But, that was certainly not the case in the early ’80s, when the then relatively unknown Australian teenager, fresh-faced and with a halo of bouncy curls, made her screen debut in the small town drama Bush Christmas. A flurry of small roles followed over the next six years, though it took the splashy thriller Dead Calm to launch her into the stratosphere. From there, she raced into Days of Thunder, the NASCAR movie through which she was introduced to Tom Cruise. They married soon after, Kidman entered the A-list and went on to conquer the industry with her performances in the likes of To Die For, The Portrait of a Lady, Eyes Wide Shut, Moulin Rouge!, The Others and The Hours.
As she celebrates her 59th birthday, we present 26 jaw-dropping throwback photos of the actor from this early phase of her more-than-four-decade-long career.
